How to Sleep Next to a Prat: A Guide by Merlin Emrys
by onceandfuturesquirrel
Summary: Merlin was excited for camp. He was up until Professor Geoffrey started to announce the partners for tents. "Next, we have Arthur Pendragon and Merlin Emrys." Well, camp's going to suck. (Merthur, Camping/High School AU, Fluff)


_IMPORTANT: This was also posted on ao3 on my account onceandfuturemoose._

 _This was inspired by this prompt from a few years ago. However, it doesn't really fulfil the prompt._

 _Imagine your OTP camping with some friends and they have to sleep in one tent. Problem is: Person A rolls around a lot while being asleep and sometimes they talk as well. They drape themselves half over person B and person B nearly kicks them out until A mumbles their love confession for B accidentally. Person B is surprised, but smiles fondly and presses a light kiss on A's hair._

 _Sorry, I can't find the link anymore... Hope you enjoy the story!_

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"Get up you lazy arse! We have to leave in 40 minutes! Come on, I don't want to be late and miss the bus!" Someone yelled as they pounded the door with their fists.

Merlin groaned and attempted to hide his face under a pillow. As the pounded continued, he gave up on his attempt to go back to sleep and sat up on his bed. He rubbed the sleep and his thoughts started to clear. Wait, he recognised the shouting voice, that's Will. Merlin glanced at the clock, what was William doing at his house this early? He got off the bed and opened the door to his friend's grinning face.

"What the hell Will. Why are you so early? You're usually not awake for another 30 minutes."

"Well, you know school camp starts today. We can't be late for the bus." Will answered, nervously.

Merlin nearly forgot about camp. If his clock was right, he still had at least 45 minutes to get ready, which doesn't explain why Will was this early. The realisation slowly dawned to Merlin. He knew exactly why his friend was excited.

"You mean you're excited to spend time with Freya. Come on admit it." Merlin said, smirking.

"What? No… of course not."

Merlin raised an unimpressed eyebrow. He couldn't understand for his life why Will tries to hide the fact that he was completely head over heels for Freya. He was pretty sure that Freya also liked Will.

"You know you can't use your uncle's most lethal weapon as a reaction to everything, right?" Will stated.

"Yeah, yeah." Merlin grinned and pushed past his friend.

When Merlin and Will reached the kitchen, they found Hunith making pancakes on the stove. Merlin gave her a peck on the cheek, before joining Will at the counter.

"Nice to see you awake early darling," Hunith said, looking impressed and smiled towards Will, "would you boys like some breakfast?"

"Ma, I'm not always late to everything!"

"We would love some breakfast Hunith," Will answered for the both of them.

The boys chatted excitedly about the camp, while Hunith served them some pancakes. Hunith's pancakes were absolutely heavenly. As they ate, Hunith started to ask both of them details about camp. Were they packed? Was everything ready? The boys answered affirmatively to each question.

Merlin went upstairs to get dressed after eating. He grabbed his stuff before hurrying down so that he could walk to school with Will.

"Ok boys, are you both sure that you have everything?" Hunith asked once again when they were by the front door.

"Yes Ma," Merlin answered and Will nodded.

"Remember you can call me if you need." Hunith continued.

"Yes, Ma."

"Oh, my boys! Stay safe, call me about anything and enjoy your camp!" Hunith cried as she dragged the two into a hug.

Merlin gave his mother another peak on the cheek before the boys waved and made their way to school.

"God, I hope that we share a tent." Will said whiningly as they got closer to the school.

"Yeah. It sucks that it's randomly chosen." Merlin remarked.

Will hummed in agreement. The boys went up the group huddle in the front of the school. They were one of the last people to arrive from their class. Their teacher sighed in relief when he saw the boys arrive.

"Thank god you're not late, boys." Mr Geoffrey said in relief.

Merlin smiled sheepishly towards the teacher. He had gained quite the reputation for being late over the last few years.

"Ok now that most of you are here, I am going to start telling you guys your tent buddies" Mr Geoffrey started reading out the list.

Will and Merlin groaned in disappointment when they found that Will was placed with Gwaine. It wasn't that Gwaine wasn't nice, actually, he was one of Merlin and Will's friends. It's just that the two childhood friends would have loved to share a tent with each other. It wasn't until Mr Geoffrey read out his partner that Merlin knew this camp would suck.

"Arthur Pendragon and Merlin Emrys" The words travelled across the group and Merlin felt the next three days fall apart.

It's not that he had anything personal against Pendragon, but everyone in school knew about his infamous habits. Of course, Merlin knew that half of these weren't exactly true, he had known Arthur since they were about 8, not that anyone else knew that accept Will. Ok, maybe he was lying about the personal thing. It didn't exactly help that Merlin had a big fat crush on Arthur since they were in Year 8. It also didn't help that Merlin was 85% sure that Arthur Pendragon was very, very straight. It defiantly didn't help that they hadn't properly talked since they were 13.

Merlin glanced around to spot his future tent buddy, but it turned out that Pendragon hadn't even arrived yet. Suddenly yelling came from across the road.

"Mr Geoffrey! Mr- Sorry I'm late!" Yelled Arthur Pendragon.

Mr Geoffrey groaned lightly and shook his head.

"It's fine Mr Pendragon you made it just in time. I was informing the class on their tent buddies. Yours will be Mr Emrys." Mr Geoffrey told Arthur.

Arthur turned smiling towards Merlin and winked. Merlin felt his breath shorten. Damn, fuck this trip is going to suck, Merlin thought despairingly. Then he mouthed prat towards Arthur, which earned him a grin.

The bus trip mostly consisted off Will mooning over Freya and Merlin whispering to Will about how much this trip would suck. The trip also consisted of Arthur obnoxiously yell across the bus, which resulted in Merlin muttering prat under his breath more than once.

The insult was muttered in a fond tone, the yelling brought back great memories. Merlin still wasn't sure exactly why he and Arthur had drifted apart, but he had accepted that it was just something that happened. His crush on Arthur also meant that he had never got the courage to talk to Arthur again before his old friend had drifted towards a very different group of friends.

Merlin didn't even realise how long he had been thinking about Arthur before the bus came to a sudden halt. He and Will grabbed their bags before following the rest of the class out the bus. The two only got a second alone before Gwaine came towards them.

"Merlin, hey how are you mate? Could you do me a favour and let me borrow my tent buddy for a second," Gwaine asked while leaning against Merlin, "I really need him."

Merlin saw Will shaking his head, begging him to not let Gwaine take him away. However, Merlin nodded at Gwaine and laughed as he saw his friend getting dragged away, pouting, by Gwaine to find a tent. It wasn't until he felt a tap on his shoulders that he stopped laughing.

"Hello, Merlin. So apparently we are going to be sharing tents for the next 3 days." Arthur drawled from behind him.

Merlin turned and felt his heart thud at the sight of Arthur. He backed away a little when he realised how close they were standing.

"Hi, clotpole. Yes, we are going to be sharing a tent, come on we have to get a tent from Geoffrey." Merlin replied and started walking towards the pile of tents, Arthur followed.

"You know Merlin; I am disappointed that after 2 years you still haven't thought up a new insult." Arthur teased.

"Oh don't worry, I'm sure I will think up of something else after having to spend three full days with you." Merlin deadpanned, making Arthur pout.

"Don't be like that Merlin. I know you missed me."

Merlin rolled his eyes. Then he grabbed one of the tent bags and threw it towards Arthur.

"Come on prat, we need to get this up before dinner."

Setting up the tent was quite the adventure. First, they couldn't figure out where to start because someone whose name rhymes grain, decided to steal the instructions and burn them in the campfire. Let's just say that person better watch their back for the next 3 days. Then Arthur wouldn't listen to Merlin when it came to figuring out the tent, apparently, he has "...superior knowledge in camping Merlin, I was a scout and us scouts are always prepared!" It didn't matter to Arthur that Merlin was also part of the scouts, they literally joined together.

When Arthur finally got his head out of his arse and listened to Merlin, they got somewhere with the tent. Merlin was inside, holding it together while Arthur put the pegs in when the tent fell apart with Merlin inside. It took Merlin 5 minutes to find his way from under the sheets and beams. When he did, he found Arthur waiting for him smirking.

"You're such a Cabbage Head. I was inside the tent Arthur!" He couldn't help the fond tone that slipped into his insult.

"Oh, Merlin do you really believe that I would do that on purpose. Me! I am wounded, my friend! Very, very hurt." Arthur replied.

Merlin rolled his eyes and muttered prat under his breath once again.

"Fine Arthur, I'm going to get a drink of water, start to get the tent set up again so we can hammer in the pegs," Merlin said

Merlin added a please as an afterthought, before storming off to get a drink. He missed the adoring, but sad look that Arthur sent his way as he left.

After Merlin came back, it took them about 15 minutes to put the tent up. When they actually work together, they were pretty damn good. After dinner, the teachers gave the student free reign over the campsite. It had been a long day and none of them were up for organising activities for their students. Merlin decided to go off and explore with Will, while Arthur hung out with his friends. The two didn't see each other until the teachers decided it was time to force the students to go into their tents.

Merlin and Will found themselves quite far away from the camp when they went out exploring. If they hadn't decided to trek back when they did, they definitely wouldn't have made it back before curfew. Merlin really was not looking to get into trouble on the first day of camp. He puffed as he finally reached the tent and found Arthur leaning against a tree waiting for him.

"Hi, Arthur. Why are you still outside?"

"Waiting for you, of course, Merlin. You were taking forever and it was nearly curfew."

"Aw, Arthur were you worried about me?" Merlin teased.

"No! Of course not," Arthur strutted out, "why would you even think that! Come on we need to sleep you, idiot!"

Arthur finished speaking and hurriedly disappeared into the tent. Merlin stopped for a second to ponder about how Arthur was acting. Arthur seemed embarrassed, why would he be? He seemed like he was trying to hide something. A sly though crept into Merlin's head.

Maybe he liked m-, Merlin stopped the thought before it fully formed. No way! It must have just been his brain playing tricks on him. Arthur could never like him! Merlin shook his head urging the thoughts to disappear, before following Arthur into the tent.

Arthur was lounging on his sleep bag when Merlin went inside. He seemed a lot more put together than he had been outside. This just solidified Merlin's idea that it had just been his head playing tricks on him.

Merlin grabbed his sleeping bag from the corner and laid it out next to Arthur's. He moved it slightly to the other end when he noticed how close the bag was to Arthur's. He heard Arthur sigh slightly when he did this, Merlin wasn't sure why he would.

"So, how was your day?" Arthur asked as both boys laid down on their respective sides.

"Me and Will just explored our camping site…"

"Merlin, don't you mean Will and I." Arthur teased.

Merlin rolled his eyes. At this point, he was surprised that they haven't just fallen out of their sockets. It hasn't even been a day at camp and he had already rolled his eyes at Arthur multiple times!

"Oh, shut up! You know what I meant. How was your day?" Merlin rolled to his side to face Arthur.

"Er... You know same as always." Arthur's face turned to Merlin's.

Merlin suddenly realised what his surroundings were. He was in a small tent with Arthur Pendragon, there was less than a meter between them and they were facing each other. Merlin was sure that if they moved an inch forward, they would be close enough to kiss each other. The howl of the wind suddenly knocked Merlin out of his thoughts. He blinked twice when he noticed that he had been staring at Arthur's face for nearly a minute. Arthur was staring back at him questioningly.

"Er, I'm going to go to sleep. Eh, good night." Merlin's face was bright red.

"Yeah ok." Arthur was also blushing slightly.

Merlin quickly looked away from childhood friend and rolled on to his other side. The wind rustled and knocked against the tent as both boys started to fall asleep. Merlin shivered as the chilly breeze passed through the tent, he snuggled into his sleep bag. As Merlin's eyes started to get heavy, he heard Arthur whisper slightly.

"Goodnight Merlin." Arthur said, yawning.

"Night." Merlin replied and closed his eyes.

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 _Hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next one should be up in a weeks' time if everything goes to plan._


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